Undercover Bruises
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: When Dougal learns that Claire had shown a vulnerable side to Jamie, he tries to take advantage by sending Jamie to spy on Claire...Claire is very unimpressed.


**Author's Note:** For TVnut. Since I couldn't get you Jamie wrapped in a bow, I wrote you this instead. Happy birthday!

"She _cried?!"_

It had been two days since the strange and mysterious Mrs Beauchamp had been brought to Castle Leoch by Jamie and the others. Since those two days a lot has happened but mainly Dougal had been a pain in the ass pestering Jamie on and on about what Mrs Beauchamp could have said to him when they were alone together. In hopes of getting some peace and quiet, Jamie gave in.

He regretted it immediately.

After all he didn't get his peace and quiet.

"Yes," Jamie sighed, " _now_ can I go?"

"No," Dougal said flatly, he then began to pace the room thoughtfully as he muttered to himself, "this interesting, very interesting."

"So the wee lass cried," Angus rolled his eyes, he, like Jamie, and everyone else in the room, wanted to leave too…..though Angus' reasons were purely alcohol related. "What does it matter?"

"That woman has been a thorn since we rescued her," Dougal explained impatiently, "She's hiding something but she's so prickly it's hard to figure out exactly _what_ she's hiding. Then along comes Jamie and she cries on his shoulder." Everyone stared at Dougal blankly which caused him to let out an impatient snarl. "She allowed herself to be vulnerable in front of him," he said as if they were all idiots.

"So?" Murtagh asked, unimpressed.

"So?" Dougal repeated furiously. " _So?_ We have an in!" he exclaimed. "We can find out what exactly she is and where her loyalties lie."

"Dougal," Jamie spoke up worriedly, "I don't think-"

"Well done lad," Dougal patted Jamie's back so hard that everyone heard the slap. Jamie winced and tried his best to smile….it wasn't working. "You have done me proud." Jamie suppressed a grimace as that didn't sound very good, Dougal never said a kind word unless he wanted something. "Now go and find out more about this Mrs Beauchamp."

"What?" Jamie blinked. " _How_?" he cried out aghast. "We have barely spoken to one another since she last patched me up."

"Well that's the easy part," Dougal said cheerfully, "Callum has made our Mrs Beauchamp the Beaton, and she has already shown a weakness for a young, strapping, strong, man injured and in need of her care."

Jamie didn't like where this was going.

" _And_?" he retorted. "What does that have to do with me?"

Dougal smirked and then the next thing Jamie knew was Dougal's fist sinking into his eye.

Really by now he should have known better…. but that didn't stop him from swearing up a storm the entire time he hobbled over to Mrs Beauchamp's new infirmary….

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"Injured again, Mr MacTavish?"

In the last three weeks, Jamie had come to Claire for a variety of injuries and ailments and Claire was beginning to wonder if she has made the acquaintance of the clumsiest man in all of time and space. After all no one normal comes to the infirmary at least three times a day.

Not that Claire was arguing, with the two stooges following her every footstep, everyone else watching her with either suspicion or envious awe, Jamie's company was the best in the entire castle.

"Yes," Jamie coughed awkwardly, "I….erm….tripped."

For some reason this caused the two stooges to sniggers. " _Again_?!" Claire said exasperatedly. "Honestly Mr McTavish I am beginning to wonder if you are a danger to yourself."

Jamie smiled a small, crooked, sheepish smile that Claire absolutely did not find sexy. Nope. Not at all. "I suppose I am, Sassenach," he then winced as the cut on his lips chose to gush more blood.

"Come here!"

Claire forced the stubborn, foolhardy, Scottish boy onto a stool and immediately set to work on his lips, and the bruises forming on his cheek, and the cut above his eye that was also bleeding very nastily.

Honestly, how this man survived this long Claire would never know.

A silence fell and Jamie sat there desperately thinking of something to say. For some reason these days he found it hard to speak in Claire's presence, he was so easily distracted by everything about her that he soon forgot to question her. It was probably why Dougal had no qualms of tripping him on the stairs today and ensuring Jamie's face met the sharp edges of the bottom step.

Jamie peered from the corner of his eye and grimaced as both Angus and Rupert gestured at him to get on with it. "So…erm…."he mumbled as Claire dabbed at his face gently with a damp cloth, "How has your day been?"

Angus and Rupert both face-palmed at this and Jamie flushed in embarrassment. Come on, he was a fugitive that was good with horses, not some sweet-talking suitor! He might be able to be charming in the eyes of some girls but this wasn't a girl in front of him, oh no, Claire was a woman and a very formidable one to boot.

"Good as it can be I suppose," Claire said sadly, "its difficult" she confessed immediately as she shot a dark look at Angus and Rupert's direction. "Having guards all the time. I can't go anywhere without them and I miss my privacy."

Jamie rubbed her wrist comfortingly. His thumb making circles on the impossibly soft and smooth skin. "They will stop following you soon enough," he promised.

"When?"

"When Dougal knows he can trust you."

"And _when,_ Mr McTavish," she growled in frustration, "will that be?"

"I honestly can't say," Jamie admitted, wishing he could say tomorrow just to make her happy, "Dougal isn't known for being trusting."

Claire sighed heavily and a silence fell upon them as she scowled at his bruises. Jamie sat there fumbling for words while Angus and Rupert continued to be no help at all by making rude gestures at him.

"What would you do?" Jamie asked, determined to keep the conversation going. "If you had no guards?"

"Oh take a good long walk without being moaned at for starters," Claire said longingly. "I missed enjoying the fresh air and taking in the views in peace and quiet."

"Lass," Angus spoke up indignantly, "you walk far too fast for a lady and you go too far. No one needs to go five miles out just to get some fresh air."

"It is good for you!" Claire protested. "You could do with less ale and more walking."

"No thanks."

Jamie's lips twitched and Claire's eyes glittered with amusement.

The rest of the afternoon continued on that heart-warming note as they ended up spending the whole afternoon talking about anything and nothing.

Jamie was so enchanted with how the light in Claire's eyes changed with her mood and the sun filtering through her narrow window, and the highlights of different colours in her chestnut mane, and the movement of her soft, lily-white, hands, that he hadn't realised how much time went by until Mrs Fitzgibbons fetched them for dinner with a stern demeanour.

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"So let me get this straight," Dougal pinched his nose in frustration, "You spent five hours last night talking to her and all you learnt was the she liked the colour blue, long walks, and dislikes asparagus."

"….Yes," Jamie said firmly.

He, of course, learnt a great deal more such as how her parents died young, how she had an unusual upbringing from her uncle and knew how to smoke a pipe and play card games that no lady should know, and little titbits about her husband, but that was the private vulnerable things that no one but the people Claire could confide in should know.

Wild horses wouldn't drag it out of Jamie, let alone Dougal at his most angry.

Jamie yelped as he felt Dougal slap him round the back of his head. "I said find out what she _is_ not what she _likes._ " Dougal snarled. "This is an espionage mission not a courtship, you numpty!"

"He's a _boy_ , Dougal," Rupert rolled his eyes, "and she's a very pretty lady, what did you expect was going to happen?"

"Dougal," Jamie said exasperated as he rubbed his head, "I really don't think Claire is a spy for the English."

He really didn't.

Claire showed no interest in the political machinations of Castle Leoch and simply longed to go home. It would be rather insulting if it wasn't for the fact Jamie also longed to go home. He missed Lallybroch with all his heart and no comfort Leoch offered could match the familiarity of his old bed, his sister's smile, and Ian's company.

Also it would mean he could escape Dougal's paranoia, something both he and Claire were increasingly finding suffocating.

"Oh, its _Claire_ now, is it?" Dougal growled. He towered over Jamie intimidatingly, fury seeping out of him. "Listen here, lad, she's a _Sassenach_ ," he stated calmly, "the enemy for all we know." Jamie barely restrained an eye roll at that. Even Dougal's most loyal men doubted Claire was spying on them. It was increasingly becoming a ridiculous notion. As if he sensed Jamie's insolence, Dougal reached out and grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him closer. "Now I'm gonna teach you a lesson," he hissed, spittle flying everywhere, "and you can use the injuries to find out why exactly she's in Scotland or so help me God I will-"

"You will, _what_?" Claire's cool, unimpressed, do not use nonsense on me, voice could be heard. Dougal whirled round to find Claire standing composed behind him, a broom held between her white hands that were shaking with barely suppressed fury. "You will do what Mr MacKenzie?" she prompted coldly. "Please tell me. I am most intrigued to know."

There is a moment of silence as Dougal's jaw locked stubbornly as he glowered furiously at Claire.

This was enough to make Claire snap.

"You," she smacked Dougal once in the stomach with the broomstick, "do not," she slapped his arse with the broom brushes this time round, "hurt him," his back, "again," Dougal's head took the brunt of the handle this time. "Do. I. make. Myself. Clear?"

Each word was punctured with a smack on the head with the broomstick.

"Ouch! Yes! _Yes_!" Dougal cried out as he held his hands over his head protectively. Jamie and the others were struggling to not laugh. If they laughed they would be brutally murdered in their sleep later. "Christ lass, let go." He moaned. "I understand!"

" _Say it!_ " Claire hissed. "Say you will not deliberately hurt him again."

"I will not deliberately hurt him again," Dougal promised, "unless he actually deserves it." Claire's eyes flashed dangerously at that. "Don't give me that look, lass!" Dougal snapped. "If he's done something that warrants a smack round the earhole, then he's going to get one or people will question my authority."

" _Fine_!" Claire huffed. "But if he comes in my infirmary with another injury you caused that he didn't deserve, and I _will_ decide if he does or not," she added rather imperiously, "then I will have your balls pickled in a jar on my shelf before the day is out." she stormed off towards the door before she turned and sent one last smouldering, furious, glare. "And yes," she said smugly. "I do know how to do that!"

Every male in the room shuddered at this.

"That lass," Dougal said almost admiringly (albeit, very _grudgingly_ ), "is something."

"Yes," Jamie agreed a little breathless, "she is."

A gorgeous woman who was kind, gentle, intelligent, extremely fierce, and able to stand up to Dougal?

…Jamie wanted to marry her on the spot.


End file.
